SOME OF London’s most influential young artists – from grime and rap stars to poets, bloggers and photographers – joined the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to launch a new and positive anti-knife crime movement: “London Needs You Alive – don’t carry a knife.”

The new campaign asks every young Londoner to tell their friends and family why London needs them and why they shouldn’t carry a knife by posting social media content.

The Mayor dropped into a youth workshop at the Photofusion studio in Brixton which is designed to help young people find a positive outlet and reject knife crime. The group of 14-year-olds made their own campaign content.

Attendees who are supporting the campaign include leading Grime artist Yungen, photographer Tom Sloan, blogger The Slumflower, poet Hussain Manawer, Grime MC Bossman Birdie, as well as George and Brooke Kinsella and Yvonne Lawson who have tragically lost loved ones and are now dedicating their lives to tackling knife crime.

Mr Khan said the artists were “young influencers” with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, who he hoped would inspire a new movement against knife crime in London.

He said: “We can’t solve the problem by police enforcement alone, we need to get the message across that our young Londoners are too valuable to risk their lives by carrying a knife.

East London poet Manawer said: “I’ve known young people who have been stabbed and unfortunately, someone who was killed due to knife crime so this topic is close to my heart. Campaigns such as London Needs You Alive give visibility to something that can break families and tear apart societies.”

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Posted on: 16/11/2017 02:00 PM

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